The Mozambican government is incentivizing foreign oil companies to keep exploring gas and oil extraction projects in the region of Cabo Delgado. Recent years have been particularly violent, with a major terrorist attack in 2021 causing many casualties. This violence has been linked by several independent researchers to the mega gas project led by TotalEnergies.  This project is linked to local population displacement, augmenting poverty, land grabbing, and human rights violations (Alexandre Nhampossa, Climate Justice Central). Moreover, does this projects also directly affect local fauna, and flora, both onshore and offshore, including the critically endangered species and unique ecosystems of the Quirimbas Archipelago, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve (Alexandre Nhampossa, Climate Justice Central). The STOPMOZGAS organization states that “the LNG (Liquified Natural Gas) development will cause habitat degradation, noise, and ship strikes and will force species, such as humpback and sei whales, to leave the area. “

Furthermore, this project counts as another “climate bomb” as it will significantly contribute to further fossil fuel extraction development, and burning, with a direct impact on the already alarming climate crisis. On the Climate Justice Central, the following can be read: 

“A group of 124 civil society organizations from Mozambique and around the world have issued an urgent appeal to the 28 financial institutions supporting TotalEnergies’ Mozambique LNG project. The group is calling on banks and export credit agencies to withdraw their support for the project over a range of concerns, including ongoing terrorist attacks, human rights abuses, lack of benefits for local communities, and critical impacts on local ecosystems and the global climate.

In the open letter, published in mid-November 2023, the coalition states that Palma and Cabo Delgado remain unsafe, with recent escalations in violence and attacks continuing to this day. Furthermore, this project is a ‘carbon bomb’ and has real impacts on the ground in Mozambique, a country already suffering from the effects of climate change.”

Non-profit organizations have estimated the total lifetime emissions of the Mozambique LNG Project at about 3.3 to 4.5 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent, more than the combined annual greenhouse gas emissions of all 27 EU countries, making this project incompatible with the Paris Climate Agreement of limiting global temperature rise to 1.50C.  

Furthermore does this project count as another “climate bomb” as it will significantly contribute to further fossil fuel extraction development, and burning, with a direct impact on the already alarming climate crisis. On the Climate Justice Central, the following can be read: